Storage-cell.



No. 650,2!9. Patented May 22, I900.

. F. W. BARHOFF- STORAGE CELL.

(Application filed July 29, 1899.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED W. BARHOFF, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE HARTFORD ACCUMULATOR COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

STO RAG E-CELL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,2l9, dated May 22, 1900. Application filed July 29, 1899. Serial nmzasiv. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRED W. BARHOFF, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Storage-Cells, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same. i 7

My invention relates to theclass of apparatus used to produce an electric current after having been charged by the passage of an electric current therethrough; and the object is to produce a storage-cell or accumulator in which an increased-efficiency may be obtained with a less Weight of material as compared with prior structures of the same class.

To this end my invention consists in the cell or accumulator as awhole, in the sectional electrode, and in the details of the parts and their combination, as hereinafter described,-

and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a View in side elevation of a cell withparts broken away to show construction. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the cell with parts broken away in horizontal section. Fig. 3 is a detail view,

on an enlarged scale, of one form of the electrode. Fig. 4 is adetail view, on an enlarged scale, of a modified form of the electrode.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter 0 denotes the storage-cell as a whole, in which there is a vessel 1) to contain the active liquid, and a grid 0, which forms the support for the active elements, this grid being, however, of special construction and in its elements, as well as a whole, forming a feature of my invention. The electrode d in this accumulator is made up of a core 6, on which a series of flanges f are secured in such manner as to divide this core into several distinct sections limited at each end by the fixed flanges, which form abutments. On the core and between each two of the flanges or abutments a series of projecting flanges are arranged with free spaces between them, and this is preferably accomplished by winding a thin ribbon of.

lead helically upon the core, leaving between each turn of the coil a space in which pcroxid of lead or spongy lead may be held as the element is to serve either as a positive or a negative element, the peroxid being formed on the elements joined up to the positive plate and the metallic lead on the elements joined upto the negative plate as the cell is being charged. These electrodes (1 are arranged, preferably, in avertical position in the cell and of a length and number deter mined by the desired power of the cell. In the form shown fifteen of the electrodes are shown grouped in a single cell and properly spaced. Near the bottom of the cell the core of one set of elementsas, for instance, the positiveare electrically connected to the plate g, while the negative electrodes are electrically connected to the negative plate h, the two plates being separated by the insulators 2', of suitable material, as gutta-percha.

At the upper end of the cell a plate 7c of non-conducting material is used to support the electrodes at the upper end and hold them in proper relation to each other. The upper end of the core of each electrode is preferably headed over to form a species of rivet, with the exception of the cores of two of the electrodes, which, respectively, belong to the positive set and the negative set of elements. On the projecting end of these two latter cores contact-pieces land l are secured, as by means of nuts attached to the threaded outer end of the core.

The electrode is preferably made up of a core e of hardened lead alloy and the flanges f of the samematerial, so as to give suflicient rigidity to the parts. The ribs or flanges, formed as by means of the thin ribbon of lead wound helically about the core, are united at the end of each section so that this ribbon or series of flanges is practically electrically continuous from end to end between the limitingshoulders on the core. In case a ribbon of lead is used each flange has a slit f cut radially in each of the intermediate abutting flanges for the passage of the ribbon. This subdivision of an electrode which is long and narrow into comparatively-short sections is i for the purpose of providing means to prevent the expansion of the active elements in the electrode from distorting it. If the rib- 1-5 sirable extent.

Q 5 ciency otthecell due to the morethorough ent bon extended from end to end of the core, and the latter was of any considerable length, the expansion of the ribbonor of the-equivalent flange would twist and distort the core 5 in such manner as to greatly decrease asset ficiency, i-f--not short-circuit the battery by the contact 'ofiitwo'. twisted cores of. o posite. polarity. Another advantage'of the division of the core into sections is the prevention of lo the crawling of the ribbon or equivalent' flanges, between which the active element exists in the form of a spongy lead or of peroxid. A result of the "crawling is "to push out" and throw down the active material to-an u nde=.

Bymaking the electrode in sections, as de scribed, and dividing up the ribbon ,and eq'uivalentfornl'of holder on the core into shortlengths the shedding or scaling o'f'the active el'em'ent'is reduced to a'minimum. The. plate h is made in skeleton form, as shown in Fig; "2 of the drawings, with openings it, through which any particles of peroxid or spongy lead may fall onto the bottom plate,

2 5 and thus'prevent the building up of an electrioatbridge between any two electrodes of opposite polarity. The material that may fall in small quantities uponthe lower plate will; however, be quickly converted by elec- 3o trochmical action to a form that unites with g and increases the electrical capacity of the lower plate. l l

A modifiediform of the electrode is shown in Fig. 4, of the drawings, where the core 6" is.

tubular with perforations e through its wall,

the flange f dividingthe surface of the core A 'intofsectio'ns and forming abutment-s to take the thrust due to, the expansion ot the me tallic 'fribbon 'wound on the core or of an 40 equivalent form of holder for thevactiv'e ele- 'm'en ts precisely as in the' form of electrode ,1

showniin Figs. land 3 of the drawings. A

main advantage of the hollow core in the electrode is the. increased activity and efti:

circulation and contact of the liquid elem throughout the cell.

The metallic ribbon wound upon the core and at right an gles, thereto with narrow spaces between the coils or turns is the preferred,

form Pot means for holding the peroxid or spongy lead but any other form of radially-arranged flanges, whether located helically upon the core or parallel toeach other, 5 5 willserve equally well the purpose of a holder, and such forms are contemplated by me as part of my invention. Another feature of my invention isfound in the arrangement of the electrodes in rows 6o injtwo directions in which those of difierent, Tpolarityare alternated. This is illustratedfi in ,Fig. 20f the drawings, where the grid is seen' in plan view. By this arrangement of them, and in the passage of the charging-cur rent from the positive to the negative electrode a path is open in at'least three directions to the negative electrodes, which are equally distributed about the positive element. If in the case of the-middle electrode, asshown in. Fig. 2, a negative electrode should become charged before the other three negative electrodes arranged about the one in question, then the current would pass beyond it and to another negative electrode which ma not have been charged, thus increasing the rapidity of 'theacti'on. 'This regular ar- -rangementoLtheeleetrOdes and alternately a s t o polarity, as described, also secures a more uniform action between the elements both in charging and discharging A the. cell. The resistance oitered bythe electrolyte is substantially the same between. each 9f the several elements. flhis advantage is a material one, both in economy and efiiciencyof the battery or cell. The electrode shown herein is circularinoutline in .cross section; but that is not material, as the cross-sectional shape may be varied atwill without aifectin g any feature of invention.

I claim as my invention r 1H A 1 .In a battery-electrode, a core provided with a number'of rigid flanges disposed at intervals along the core and forming abutments, and a holder for an active material arranged about the core and so disposed as to form a series of annular flanges, andmeansincluding said rigid flanges,- adapted to prevent movement of the holder except fer portions of itslength. A W

2. A battery-electrode comprising'acqre, a number of rigid flanges forming fixed abutments disposed at intervals along thec'ore from end to end, and a metallic ribbon wound about the core between each pair pf abutments the several turns projecting fromthe 1 core and the several sections electrically connected from end to end of the electrode.

A battery-electrode comprising a tubular core with the walls of the tubeperforated and" provided with flanges disposed at intervals along its length providing fixed abutments, and a metallic holder forjan; active material located on the core providingannu lar flanges arranged at right angles to the surface of the core.

lator or storage-cell, two sets of electrodes of opposite polarity, a bottom plate electrically connected to one set of electrodes, a second plate electrically connected to the other set of electrodes and withopenings through which the first set pass, a supporting plate of nonconducting material uniting the electrodesat the opposite ends and each electrode made up of a core divided into sections by'fixed abutments, and means for holding an active the electrodes provision is made for amore j uniform distribution of the electrolyte about.

material betweenthe abutments and electricallyeonnected from end to end of the core.

4. In combinationin a'grid forJan accumu- 5. In a storage-cell, in combination, aboting arranged in rows in two directions and tom plate united to one setof electrodes, a alternating in polarity in both rows.

plate above the first-named plate perforated p for the free passage of the first set of elec- FRED BARIIOFF 5 trodes, and a second set of electrodes electric- Witnesses:

ally connected to the upper plate and insu- WILLIAM H, BARKER,

lated from the lower, the said electrodes be- ERMA P. COFFRIN. 

